Golf games
Parful runs thisTrouble
Also called Trouble points, Disaster points.
Trouble is a side game that counts the bad things: one point for every three-putt, one point for every hole with a bunker shot, and one point for every penalty stroke. The fewest trouble points at the end of the round wins. Parful counts only what the group records and never guesses.
- Players
- 2 or more, in one group
- Scoring basis
- Recorded facts only; the score and the handicap do not matter
- Three-putt
- 1 point per hole with 3 or more putts
- Bunker
- 1 point per hole with a bunker shot, however many
- Penalties
- 1 point per penalty stroke, up to 9 on a hole
- Winner
- Fewest points; ties share
How Trouble works
Trouble turns the round inside out. Nobody cares what you scored; the game counts how often you got into trouble. On every hole three things are recorded for each player: the putts, whether the ball was in a bunker, and how many penalty strokes were taken. Each three-putt is one point, each hole with a bunker visit is one point, and each penalty stroke is one point. The lowest total wins.
A four-putt is still one point, because the fact is the three-putt, not the number of putts beyond it. Two bunkers on the same hole are still one point, because the fact is a bunker visit on the hole. Penalties are different: a ball out of bounds followed by a ball in the water on the same hole is two points, because every penalty stroke counts.
A penalty stroke means a stroke added under the rules: out of bounds, a penalty area, a lost ball, an unplayable lie, or a whiff if the group agrees to record it that way. Parful records the count, not the reason.
How the trouble is recorded
Trouble is built from game facts. Putts, bunker and penalties are asked once per player per hole on the group scorecard and shared with every game that reads them, so a group playing Trouble alongside Fewest Putts or Sandies enters each fact once. Strokes go in first: until a player's gross for the hole is recorded the fact controls for that player are locked, and putts can never exceed the gross.
An unrecorded fact counts nothing. A hole where the bunker question was not answered is not a bunker visit and not a clean hole; it simply adds no point. Points accrue as facts arrive, the way Stableford points accrue as scores arrive, and re-entering a hole replaces the earlier facts.
Try it
Can we play Trouble in our format?
Derived from the same compatibility rules the scorecard uses, so it cannot drift from the product.
Own ball, individual
Available
Four-ball, best ball, counted scores
Available
Shamble, bramble, cha cha cha
Available
Scramble, foursomes, greensomes, chapman
Needs a fact (putts, fairway) a shared ball cannot supply
How Parful scores it
Start Trouble from the group scorecard as a private challenge or as a club pool run by a manager. Either way the roster is one group, because trouble is called by the players who saw it. Two or more players.
The standings show the breakdown for each player, three-putts, bunkers, penalties and the total, fewest first, with ties sharing a position. With a stake attached, settlement uses the inverted formula Fewest Putts uses: each player's units are the field's total points minus their own total multiplied by the number of players, which is one stake per trouble point avoided against each opponent. The ledger is zero-sum; Parful shows it and never moves money.
It runs on own-ball rounds, four-ball style outings and shambles. It is unavailable on a scramble or an alternate-shot format, where no player-level facts exist.
Worked example
A worked example: three players, nine holes
Ana, Ben and Cal record putts, bunkers and penalties on every hole. Each cell says what happened; the last column gives the trouble points for the hole.
| Hole | Ana | Ben | Cal | Points: Ana / Ben / Cal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Two putts, clean | Three putts | Bunker | 0 / 1 / 1 |
| 2 | Bunker and three putts | Clean | Out of bounds, 1 penalty | 2 / 0 / 1 |
| 3 | Clean | Clean | Clean | 0 / 0 / 0 |
| 4 | Water, 1 penalty | Bunker, two putts | Four putts | 1 / 1 / 1 |
| 5 | Clean | Clean | Clean | 0 / 0 / 0 |
| 6 | Clean | Lost ball, 1 penalty, then bunker | Two putts | 0 / 2 / 0 |
| 7 | Bunker and three putts | Clean | Clean | 2 / 0 / 0 |
| 8 | Clean | Clean | Unplayable, 1 penalty | 0 / 0 / 1 |
| 9 | Three putts | Two bunker shots on the hole | Clean | 1 / 1 / 0 |
- Cal's four-putt on hole 4 is one point, the same as a three-putt. Ben's two bunker shots on hole 9 are one point, because the fact is a bunker visit on the hole.
- Ben's hole 6 is two points: one for the lost ball penalty and one for the bunker. Ana's holes 2 and 7 are two points each: a bunker and a three-putt on the same hole.
- Settlement at one unit: the field total is 15 and there are three players. Cal is 15 minus 3 times 4, plus 3; Ben is 15 minus 15, level; Ana is 15 minus 18, minus 3.
Common variants
- Extended trouble
- More kinds and heavier weights: a lost ball at 2, a whiff at 2, a tree at 1, a three-putt doubled. Parful counts three kinds, three-putts, bunkers and penalty strokes, at one point each.
- Trouble into a pot
- Every trouble point puts a unit into a pot that the cleanest round collects. Parful settles Trouble per point between the players, not through a pot.
- Sandies
- The reverse of the bunker point: a par or better from a bunker earns rather than costs. Parful scores Sandies as its own game from the same bunker fact.
- Dots
- The positives, birdies, eagles, sandies and greenies, scored as points won. Parful scores Dots as its own game; Trouble is the negative side of the same idea.